Hi all I’m looking to buy a wax pen to do wax work on an oil
platform in Cook Inlet. As open flames are a NO! NO! i would like
to get a good unit to use out the on my off time. I see Rio-Grand
has several to offer in a very wide price range. Not having ever
owned on of these tools I would appreciate any suggestions from
the group.
Thanks much Larry in AlaskaLarry,
I made my own from a mico switch from radio shack stuffed it into
a peice of fiberglass fishing pole and used a filiment from an
old toaster. the wires have banana plugs and I plug that into my
plating machine and can control the heat with the riostate on the
plater. I actually described this to a guy at Rio and about
three months later he showed same with a foot peddle switch(not
as much control) in their catalogue. their’s is expensive, mine
cost about $8.00 if you have a plating machine or go to someone
who is good at electical stuff and have them make a small DC
power supply with small amperage(estimate maybe 85$). If you
need advice just E me. Ron http://www.kreml.com
The least expensive way I heard was using the european egg
decorating tool. It is a very small resevoir with a little tube
comming out the base. It has a handle. You put some wax in and
warm it over a candle. It takes practice, but I have seen some
very delicate gold models built up this way. I think you can
still get them. Steve Ramsdell
The least expensive way I heard was using the european egg decorating tool. It is a very small resevoir with a little tube comming out the base. It has a handle. You put some wax in and warm it over a candle
This sounds like the tool used for doing batik, a wax resist
fabric dyeing process. I believe the tool is called a tjianting,
or something like that. SAX arts & crafts catalog, which supplies
all kinds of fine craft supplies to art teachers, would probably
have them. anne
The least expensive way I heard was using the european egg decorating tool. It is a very small resevoir with a little tube comming out the base. It has a handle. You put some wax in and warm it over a candle.
Great idea however as I said I work on an oil platform and we
take a very dim view of open flams . We are producing about 200
million cubic feet of natural gas a day, and fire makes VERY
NURVIOUS. But thanks any way , I might give that a try here on
the beach during my time off.
Hi all I'm looking to buy a wax pen to do wax work on an oil platform in Cook Inlet. As open flames are a NO! NO! i would like to get a good unit to use out the on my off time. I see Rio-Grand has several to offer in a very wide price range. Not having ever owned on of these tools I would appreciate any suggestions from the group.
Hello Larry: At work I use one called “Giles wax tool” comes
with 3 tips.Riogrande sells it for about $130.00.I modified one
tip by soldering a smaller pionted piece of steel too it. I also
have for my personnal shop a “Deluxe Mastertouch wax designer” It
is also sold by Riogrande for about $200.00. It has a foot petal
that I like alot and is maybe alittle better made.It also has a
wider assortment of tips to choose from. I do not know anything
about any of the others but you can make one using a dimmer
switch and a soldering iron. I use Green wax solid rod pretty
much all the time and I use a “Matt Mini-Lathe” to turn the inner
diameter and outer diameter.
Michael Mathews Victoria,Texas USA
Re: open flames on oil rig. You could heat the wax in a pan
(preferably a double boiler) over an electric burner… You use
the pysanska or tjianting tools to scoop up melted wax from the
pot. Don’t know if that would solve your problem, but how do
they cook your food out there if they don’t use electric burners?
Actually, the tool is slightly different than a batiking tool.
It has a deeper well and thus holds more wax. The tip is also a
little finer. It is used for making Pysanska eggs in the
Ukraine. You can probably find it in the same SAX catalog as the
tjianting tool or try a children’s craft catalogue… I have one
around here somewhere and even saw the pysanska tool in there.
I’ll try to locate it, but if you think your benches are messy,
try my whole house … Mia
cheapest wax pen i’ve seen is an electric soldering iron with
ans attached rehostat to control the heat. different size tips
can be made by soldering copper wire to tubes to fit on the
soldering iron. It is no a master touch waxer bu it is a good
starter for those with a budget. Frank
Great idea however as I said I work on an oil platform and we
take a very dim view of open flams . We are producing about 200
million cubic feet of natural gas a day, and fire makes VERY
NURVIOUS. But thanks any way , I might give that a try here on
the beach during my time off.
Many of the woodworking catalogs have woodburning units with all
sorts of variable heat systems. For largish work I use a
soldering iron with a tip modified by JOHN temp controlled via a
light dimmer switch. Also use a Kerr and a ??? wax pen units,
one (kerr) is a single point slodering iron type unit, the other
is a resistance wire loop (like the pistol type soldering irons)
that I make different tips for (you can buy the too). Check out
Swest, Rio, Geswein, Otto Frei, Tom Heater Vigor or any one of
the zillion jewelry suppliers.
John and Cynthia/MidLife Crisis Enterprises
Maiden Metals/C. T. Designs/ Bloomin’ Wax Works. etc.
PO Bx 44, Philo
CA 95466
Ph 707-895-2635 FAX 707-895-9332
Sitting still and wishing makes no person great.
The good Lord provides the fishes, but you must dig the bait.
You can make a type of wax pen by getting a small pencil type
electric soldering iron and replacing the tip with whatever type
of tip you want. Then get a rheostat and control the voltage to
the iron to control the temp. You can mount the rheostat (a
light dimmer switch) in a utility (junction) box and use an
extension cord, cut one lead of the cord and run the dimmer
switch in series with the cut lead. Make the cord come in one
side of the junction box and make the outlet (female end) of the
extension cord come out the other side. Plug the soldering iron
in the female end.
Get a soldering iron with a set screw to hold the tip. You can
solder a needle to a piece of copper wire, or just make a pointed
or spoon shaped piece of copper wire for your wax pen — look at
the types of tips in the Rio catalog for the commercial wax pens.
Only thing I haven’t figured out yet is the way to have a
reservoir as one of the commercial wax pens does. However, if
you hold a wax wire to the end of your heated tip, the wax will
flow off of it. Hope this is fairly clear and that it helps.
The best part is the price. A dimmer switch, junction box and
extension cord should cost about $12 at most, and the soldering
iron will be $8 or less at Radio Shack. Find the temperatures
you need by trial and error and make a paper dial for the dimmer
control. QED, HTh
Roy (Jess)